False Emotion
by Mega sonic fan
Summary: ATTENTION! this story is no longer being updated. my new fanfic is a rewrite of this one and makes ten times more sense plus its just written better. 'A Passion Unknown' is the newer version of this story. sorry to those whi liked this one .
1. Relevance of boredom

First ever fanfic!!! Also, I do not own any of these characters except Mesmeros. All others belong to the SEGA Corporation. Also, they are gonna be using **swordsmanship** skills, not regular hand to hand. More like **katana to katana**. Also, there will be Sonuckles. Homophobic people leave now. BUT, it won't be lemon. One last thing, the characters ages are as follows: Sonic – 18 Knuckles – 19 Tails – 11 Mesmeros - ??? Amy – 15 and Espio – 19 (if the ages and the actual difference is off, I'm sorry, I'm only familiar with a few character's ages.)

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Chapter 1

Relevance of Boredom

Sonic was reclined in his favorite spot, the Sofa, gleefully bobbing his head to the beat of the music he was listening to on his Ipod. He had been there for the past thirty minutes, scanning through his songs, until he ended up back at track #1. He then removed the Ipod, setting it in its normal spot where he wouldn't forget it.

The boredom had followed him all day. The Ipod was his last refuge of entertainment, and even that was an exhausted option now. With nothing else to do, he headed down towards Tail's 'basement tinker town'.

"Hey Tails! I'm heading out, this boredoms killing me!" He yelled through the door, but apparently Tails didn't hear him over the loud welding noises he was making.

"Meh… Typical of tails." Sonic shrugged it off and headed through the front door.

His intentions upon leaving were simple; run about and see if anything interesting is happening. This was one of his normal remedies for a lack of things to do. The air around the city wasn't exactly fresh; he had always preferred rural areas, but after living for 3 years in this house, the city began to grow on him, especially for times like this when there's not enough electronics or magazines in the world to keep him occupied.

He started walking off in a random direction of the sidewalk, but found that walking just wasn't his style, of course. Not to mention it kept the occasional fan girl off his back. Or Amy for that matter. He zoomed through the pedestrians along the sidewalk, just slow enough to avoid colliding with one of them. But as he turned a corner, he didn't see the green hedgehog doing the same, and with an embarrassingly loud thud, he ran face first into him.

"Ouch damnit…" The green hedgehog exclaimed, rubbing his bruised cranium.

"Owww…" Sonic moaned in pain as a hot blush spread across his cheeks, seeing everyone staring and some even laughing at his run in with the other hedgehog. Upon further examination, Sonic almost mistook this new hedgehog for his old friend Manic, but there were a few differences. For one, he had a large green Mohawk that went straight up, then cascaded down over the rest of his head. His eyes were a dark blue, and always seemed to be narrowed, and his shoes had large spikes that protruded from the front, three on each shoe.

"With all the speed of yours, I'd think you'd know better than to be so reckless." The green one said, still lying on the ground.

"I don't think I was being reckless, we all make mistakes sometimes." He said as he offered him a hand up. Sonic was surprised, though, as the hedgehog swatted his hand away and stood up on his own.

"You wretch, have you forgotten the long feud between you and the Mortuus clan? I will not accept any help from the likes of you." The hedgehog spat on the ground, and gave Sonic a deathly glare.

"Whoa! Chill, dude! I don't have any idea what you're talking about! I've never even heard of your 'clan' before in my life." Sonic said, frantically trying to calm the hedgehog down.

"Of course you don't remember, you've always had that Fox do the brainwork for you. My name is Necroa Mortuus, and you'd best remember _that_ if you know what's good for you." Sonic gave Necroa an annoyed glare.

"I'm telling you! I've never heard of your clan before, just calm down for a minute, and let me expl-" Sonic was cut off by Necroa.

"I have no time for this, much less with a walking ignorance like yourself." Necroa sped off, which surprised Sonic to see someone be able to run fast like him, but just from looking he could tell that he could outrun him easily.

_Geez… who stuck a pole up his ass?_ Sonic thought to himself.

"Sonic!" Sonic looked up to where the familiar childish voice was coming from. Tails was coming down from atop a 3 story building, struggling to keep himself steady in the moderate breeze that was blowing through town. "Who was that guy? Wasn't that Manic?" he asked.

"Nah some guy named Necroa. If you ask me, he's lost it. He had to be all rude to me saying there was some blood feud between me and his clan." Sonic explained.

"Really?" tails eyes widened. "What was his clan's name?" He questioned.

"Mortuus or something creepy like that." Sonic shrugged and began walking with no real destination, Tails following.

"Sonic, you're not gonna want to hear this but…" Tails paused for a moment, a concerned look on his face. "That clan actually does have something against your family, it's not just him. They were known to practice dark arts and necromancy rituals using the power of chaos emeralds, and stranger yet, they once had a successful experiment. They named it 'The Eviscerater', and with it they wiped out 5 of the old world clans, leaving only two more remaining, the Magicka and the Trancsest. I'd try to avoid him, if at all possible. For all we know, he could be planning." Tails lectured.

"Hmm. They sound like a bunch of nut-cases to me." Sonic chuckled, and then noticed a low rumble in his stomach. Looking around, he spotted a 'Sonic' and began heading in that direction. (((A.N.: For those who don't know there actually IS a fast food place named sonic. Has nothing to do with the blue blur, but since their specialty is chili dogs you'd think they would.)))

He sat down at an outdoor table, and pressed a button on the sign with the menu on it. After ordering, he turned to Tails. "You're not eating?" he asked, not really concerned but a little surprised.

"Nah I ate at home. I've been working on this new machine that's supposed to…" Sonic rolled his eyes as tails blathered on about mechanics, physics, and a whole manner of other sciences that were somehow related to this device he was creating.

The lady walked out of the door, handing sonic a bag full of fresh food. He pulled out his wallet (from his shoe, honestly, where else would he keep it?) and paid for the meal, then tipped the waitress. From the bag, and to Tails befuddlement, he pulled out three extra long chilidogs and a serving of chili cheese fries.

"Sonic, you are SO gaining ten pounds from that." Tails said, wide eyed. They widened even more when he saw him scarf down a chilidog in less than 15 seconds.

"I'll feel bad about it later. Right now I'm hungry."

In just a few minutes, he had finished the entire meal.

"If you get sick from eating that fast I wont feel sorry." Tails told him as they got up.

Sonic shrugged with a smile, and then said "Let's head home. There's bound to be something good on T.V. by now."

"Yeah, and I've got to finish my machines."

From atop a building, a figure was looking down at them, though they didn't notice her.

"Fool. He has no idea what he's found his way into." She said to herself. She left the rooftop, heading in the direction of a dark, gaunt housing complex.

((And I think I shall end it with a half-cliffhanger, I feel this chapter has gone on long enough. I also forgot to credit Aeyvi Allen Poe with the inspiration for this story, I loved punch drunk love. And hurry and update it for god's sake! Give us chapter 9!))


	2. Full Alert

Chapter 2

Full alert

"Master, the first stage is complete. They now know about the Mortuus clan." The Pink Cat said towards a figure in the shadows.

"Send my regards to Necroa. He has fulfilled his task for now." The silhouette responded back in an eerily deep voice. He turned around, revealing his glowing red eyes against a dark purple layer of fur. He was a hedgehog, with a great many long, cascading quills on his head. His eyes had no pupils, only color, and on his stomach was a large black spiral.

"Now it comes to your duty. Warn them of my presence and plans, so they may begin their panicking efforts to stop me. I want this to last longer than my last 'challenge'." He kicked the body of a light blue echidna down the small flight of stairs leading to his dark 'throne'.

"Yes, my lord. But, there lies one problem, referring as to location." The purple hedgehog tossed a scroll of parchment towards the masked cat. "You still don't want to use the modern ways do you? Parchment is long out of style." The cat teased. The hedgehog seemed a little annoyed for a split second, and then his face relaxed again.

"Do not seek to question me. I have my ways." He retaliated.

"Heh. Whatever." The pink cat unrolled the parchment, revealing a map of the city with their home, frequent locations, and other points of interest regarding the plans.

"Show them the map, that way we can alert them without much effort." The hedgehog turned and sat in his chair upon the small staircase, and was silent.

"I take my leave, master." The cat said, bowing, and then walked away towards the door.

-O-

Sonic had been watching T.V. for almost an hour when their came a knocking at the door.

"I'll get it!" Tails yelled from his room. (Not his workshop). He heard the door open, and bits of a conversation, then Tails yelled back "Sonic, they're here for you!" Sonic groaned, getting off the couch, and walked towards the door. He was surprised to see a masked pink cat at the door. _Is that blaze? And what's with the mask?_ He thought.

"There you are, Sonic. I have something I must show you." She reached into her back pocket, and strangely, pulled out a dilapidated piece of parchment. "This is my master's, He wishes for you to know about his plans for this city." She said darkly.

Sonic read over it, shocked at the evils that were printed on the parchment. "How long have you had your stalker out there, following me?" He asked urgently, still reading at the map.

"That is not for your knowledge, hedgehog." She said coldly.

"I'm not going to let you get back to him, not after I've seen this!" Sonic attempted to grab her, but she was so agile as to handspring back about 10 feet.

"You're so vigilant. I'll bet my master will have fun with you for a while. He's been rather bored of late." She chuckled a bit, and then hopped onto the rooftops, gracefully fleeing the scene.

"She's not gonna get away so easily!" Sonic ran back in to grab his katana. "Tails! We're going right now!" He took up his katana, strapping its sheath around his waist.

"What for? Why are you so frantic?"

"I'll explain later, right now we've got someone to chase." He rushed out the door, leaving it hanging open.

Tails sighed. "Whatever. Better go with him." He grabbed a hand-cannon he had designed some weeks earlier, and flew away to catch up with him.

Sonic was running down the streets, looking up on the roofs trying to spot the feline apprentice. He turned a corner, looking down the long street. Sonic then spotted the pink figure dashing down the street, heading towards an aged, wrecked house. "Got ya." He said to himself. He sprinted at full speed, quickly coming towards her back.

She let out a small gasp of surprise as he had hold of her in an arm lock. "Now let's see who you are behind that mask!" Sonic reached to pry it off, when the image of the cat dissipated into the air. A multitude of colorful orbs floated away from the original spot the villain was in.

"What?! Where did she go?" He looked around frantically, searching for her running away somewhere, but found nothing but the stillness of the neighborhood.

"Ok, now what are we doing here Sonic?" Tails asked as he flew in towards a panicking

Sonic.

"That pink girl that paid us a visit, she showed me these. I tried to catch her, but I grabbed her and she just… disappeared. Right out of my arms." Sonic Handed tails the scroll, who read over it thoroughly.

Tails eyes widened when he finished reading it. "We have to do something! From what this map says, they're going to target the city's residents!"

"I know. This… Mesmeros… I think he's their leader." Sonic looked around once more for her. "They were even kind enough to show us where there headquarters are." Sonic pointed to a marker on the map.

"I don't think we should go there so soon. It might be a trap." Tails said.

"Yeah." Sonic thought for a minute, then an idea hit him. "Hey! We could get Espio to sneak in for us. This shouldn't be too new for him."

Tails nodded. "Do you know where he lives?"

"I think so. If not I'll bet one of your doohickeys can track him down for us."

"Right. Then let's get going." Tails lifted off, and Sonic ran along with him.

-o-

They arrived at Espio's house, which was designed in a pagoda style with shrine lanterns and many other eastern style things.

"Wow. He went all out!" Sonic exclaimed. "Espio has a tendency to go overboard. 'ULTIMATE NINJA POWER!' yeah. That's a nice catch phrase." Sonic finished sarcastically.

"Well, anyways, we still need him."

"Yeah, I'll go get him." Sonic walked up the cobblestone path, towards the large wooden doors on the pagoda. After knocking three times with the Chinese dragon knocker, it opened up but revealed no one inside.

"Espio, it's just me. You can drop the ninja act."

"It's not an act! It's a precaution. As a shinobi, I take no chances." Espio coldly responded, then faded in from camouflage.

"Well anyways, I need your help. Take a look at this. It'll explain everything." Sonic handed the scroll to Espio, who scanned over it quickly.

"I see, I see. So what is it you need me to do?"

"We need you to sneak into their headquarters it talks about on the parchment. We need to see who or what this is all about."

Espio let out a small sigh. "I guess there is no choice. I will try, but for Mesmeros to reveal his plans and locations to you, he must be very confident about this. Or he's giving us false intelligence." Espio said. He walked into a room to his left, and shortly returned with two daggers, a pouch of shuriken, and one very large shuriken strapped to his back.

"Thanks, Espio. I knew I could count on ya." Sonic smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"I will return any information I find to you." Espio back flipped onto the pagoda styled house. "Oh, and this will cost you. Business is business." Espio smirked and faded into camouflage.

"Hey, that's not right! Get back here!" Sonic yelled at him, although he was invisible. He pondered for a moment, before shaking his head in frustration. "Tch. Asshole." Sonic turned around… and tripped over Espio's foot, which he had intentionally stuck out whilst invisible. Sonic landed into Espio's koi pond, causing the fish to scatter in all directions and some even jumping out. Sonic grumbled and got out, letting out a loud growl. He walked back to the gates with shame.

"Hey, did he agree to it?" Tails eyes him for a second. "Why are you soaking wet?" He asked, tilting his head.

"It's… not important. Let's head back. He's going after them." Sonic took off running at a faster than usual pace, trying to dry off.

There was nothing he could do to prepare himself for the sight he was about to bear witness to.

((another cliffhanger! Gotta love em. Anyways, please review; I'll give you a cookie! Next chapter is comin' up!))


	3. Tasks of a Shinobi

Chapter 3:

The tasks of a shinobi

Espio had no trouble finding the place marked as the HQ on the map. He didn't live in the city, but he made sure he wasn't too far from sonic. They were the Chaotix's best customers, after all. Also he liked to practice his stealth around the large crowds, since he wasn't very talented when there were many people around. _Well, it certainly looks like a villain HQ. _He thought to himself, looking at the dilapidated old home. He then camouflaged, and made sure to look through the cracks in the boarded up windows to see if anyone was in the foyer. When he saw no one, (particularly because it was pitch-black inside) he silently opened the front door, revealing antique furniture covered in dust and other grime. _I don't understand how anyone can stand living in a place so old and dusty. I can hardly breathe in here. _Espio said in his mind. He stopped for a moment, and tracked voices coming from a flight of stairs that went into what seemed to be a basement. Being careful as to avoid any creaking steps, he walked down towards the door. The voices were clearer now, and he could hear a man and a woman below. They were apparently in some sort of argument; he couldn't hear the entire conversation, but he could make out the harsh words flying about down there.

He jumped a bit when the door flew open, and a pink feline emerged from the doorway.

"Fine! Have it your way. I'm sure Mesmeros won't approve, though." She yelled in a sassy tone to a green hedgehog sitting in the room beyond. Espio almost followed her outside, but then decided it wasn't his task to stalk her.

He walked inside the room the cat had walked from, and saw it was surprisingly clean and tidy, compared to the upper floors. The green hedgehog was leaning back in a recliner, but then stood up and turned the radio on. Espio was greeted with a blaring loud symphony of a screaming heavy metal band. The hedgehog was bobbing his head to the beat, with a satisfied smirk on his face. Espio was surprised when he jolted up and turned off the radio, as if his mother had just screamed at him. _Is someone else here…? _He thought to himself, eyes darting around the room to find a cause. He decided he'd find an answer later, remembering that Sonic was waiting for info.

He left the hedgehog listening to an Ipod, and was glad he was facing away from the other door. Knowing he wouldn't be heard through the way too loud music, he pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing it behind him.

This room wasn't like the last; it was dark, with only a little bit of light shining through a small window along the top of the wall, and a broad but short flight of stairs with a desk and a high back chair at the top. Even without using ninjutsu, he was still able to sense a dark, ominous presence in the leather seat facing away. He dared not get closer due to a number of traps set along the walls. _I'd take a wild guess this is their leader, what with all the corniness. _Espio thought as he tried to see through the darkness.

"You can stop the charade, Espio." A deep, echoing voice said. "I've known you were here quit a while."

Espio scowled in surprise, and faded into visibility. "I take it you're the ringleader." He asked, Scratching the back of his head. "One question though; why didn't you stop me when you sensed me here?"

The voice chuckled malignly. "Where's the entertainment in that? I've wanted to kill something with experience for a long time." The seat turned to face Espio, and a purple hedgehog with red eyes stepped into the light. "I hope you've made amends, because I guarantee you won't escape this room with a soul left in your body."

"Next time, make sure you aren't talking to a ninja when you say that." Espio pulled a large shuriken from his back, fanning out its four large razors. He started to throw it at the hedgehog with deadly precision and force… But was frozen in position. "What…? What is my body doing?" He stood wide eyes as Mesmeros chuckled again.

"I don't care who you are or what you specialize at, only seeing this kind of terror storm across your being. I am an illusionist, and I can enter your mind and read your thoughts without lifting a finger." Mesmeros closed his eyes for a second, and smiled a malicious grin. "But what fun would this be without drama?" Two lights in the darkest corners of the room lit up, revealing two faces that left Espio speechless.

"Oh no… Vector! Charmy!" Espio Struggled to regain control of his body in an attempt to free his friends from the trance they stood in.

"Ha. It delights me so much to see such agony in your eyes." Mesmeros walked up towards the captives. "Even if you could break free, I am the only one who can awake them from there dark slumber."

"Damn you, Mesmeros. If I don't kill you, you can be sure someone else will, and not too late, either." Espio could almost feel tears welling up behind his gold eyes. He wanted to hurt Mesmeros so badly he could feel the rage begin to morph his very soul into a twisted, vengeful abomination, not different from Shadow's contempt for the humans. Just then, the door behind Espio flew open and the feline from earlier stomped in. "Master, Necroa has his radio up and blasting-…" She stopped mid sentence when she saw Espio paralyzed in an aggressive position. "Oh, so this is that curious chameleon you were talking about earlier." She said delightfully. "Are you having fun, Master? If you don't kill him today I can find some things to do with him until you do." She walked up close by him, purring lustfully in his ear and much to Espio's agitation.

"No, I intend to end this very soon." Mesmeros raised his arm, aiming it in Espio's direction. "Eur dak. Mune io lyrta xiun." He muttered with a loud, echoic voice. A large mass of purple energy gathered in his hand, and flew towards Espio, hitting him square in the chest.

Even from deep within the trance, Charmy was able to see what happened. He could not control his body, but streams of tears flowed from his eyes as he watched Espio's corpse fall lifeless to the floor. _Espio…no…_ His conscience echoed in his head.

((Ending this chappy! BTW in chapter 2 I am going to continue from Sonic's point of view and elaborate on the cliff hanger. I didn't forget about it!

Also, make sure to comment! I get more stimulation that way and suggestions always help.))


	4. A Goodbye And a Hello

Ch. 4

A Goodbye… and a Hello

Sonic's heart sank like a rock in water when he saw what was on his front yard. There were streaks of blood leading into his yard from the sidewalk, and an injured and cut up person was slowly crawling to his front door. Even at a distance, he could tell who the familiar figure was.

Elise.

Sonic ran to her side, and examined the many lacerations across her body. If she didn't get help soon, she'd bleed to death.

"S-sonic…" She moaned, but was cut off when Sonic put a finger to her lips.

"Shhh, try not to talk… you might make things worse." Sonic looked at tails, who was standing off to the side with a look of disbelief on his face, and said "Quick tails, call an ambulance. We need one as soon as possible!" Tails nodded and ran inside to dial 911.

Looking back down at Elise, who was staring up at Sonic with a smile of comfort on her face now that she was in Sonic's arms, He picked her up and carried her back inside, then laying her on the sofa. Tails ran into the room with Sonic and Elise. "They're on their way, don't worry." Tails said. Sonic was holding Elise's hand, tears streaming down his face. He was muttering things to Elise like 'everything's gonna be fine.' And 'don't worry, you'll get through this.' It dawned on Tails that this was the first time he had seen the sapphire hedgehog cry, although he didn't blame him; this was scaring Tails too.

They sat there in silence for maybe 10 minutes when the sound of sirens hit their ears. Paramedics rushed out of the ambulance, and took Elise from Sonic, who had been standing outside with her in his arms when he heard the sirens approaching.

Sonic rode with her to the hospital, doing nothing but staring at her, and every now and then holding her hand. When they reached the hospital after what seemed an eternity, Sonic was forced to sit in the waiting room, along with Tails.

Tails could see that Sonic was very troubled, had this been anyone but Elise he might have taken it better. But after all, Elise was the one girl that Sonic had ever had a crush on. He sat with his hands clasped, and rested his forehead on them.

20 minutes later, a doctor emerged from the room Elise was in. Sonic couldn't tell if his expression was happy or somber, since he was wearing a facemask.

"Well, we think she'll make it through, the wounds aren't as bad as they look. She's suffering from blood loss, so she might not wake up for a while." The doctor told Sonic, who had reverted back to his former position with his head in his hands.

After a long silence, Sonic replied "Thanks. Try and take care of her." He looked around, and stood up to head for the door. Tails followed right behind him, not saying anything. Sonic opened the door, not expecting the resistance of a red echidna on the other side. Even after what just happened, seeing Knuckles rubbing his head while on the floor was enough to force Sonic to let out a good laugh.

"I came all the way from Angle Island, and this is what I get?" he asked with a smile on his face. Sonic held out a hand to help him up, which he took hold of.

Sonic chuckled. "So how come you're here?"

"I heard about what happened with Elise. Is she okay?" The smile faded from Sonic's face at the mention of Elise again. Knuckles then saw the redness of his face, and assumed he had been crying not long ago. He didn't think that Sonic cared so much for Elise; he had thought of them as only friends. But he might be proven wrong.

"Yeah, we were just leaving… she's gonna be out for a while they said." Sonic diverted his gaze to the floor.

"Well, I guess I'll come with you guys. I really don't want to have come out here for nothing."

Sonic looked up, and gave Knuckles a toothy grin. "That'd be cool! There hasn't been much to do around my place lately anyway." Sonic thought for a second. "Is it alright if we use your car, Knux? I rode in the ambulance up here, so I don't have my car up here. I'd just run, but you can't keep up with me." Sonic said, making Knuckles feel lesser compared to the blue blur, since it was true that Sonic was ten times faster than him.

They walked down into the parking lot, and spotted Knuckles' car standing out from all the others. It was rather easy to distinguish; it was the only Ferrari in the parking lot. Sonic didn't understand how he could afford it, what with doing nothing but guarding the master emerald. He assumed that his family had a lot of money from earlier times, when the master emerald was everything to the world, and his ancestors had gathered quite some riches by guarding it.

Tails gleefully hopped in the back seat, while Sonic sat in the passenger's side and Knuckles was driving.

"Bet you're not used to this sort of luxury." Knuckles said just to gloat once more about his precious car.

"Shaddap and drive." Sonic commanded playfully. He looked back once more at the hospital, hoping Elise wouldn't go through too much trouble. He quickly shook off the feeling, reverting to his new motto, 'I can't live in the past.'

Knuckles had just exited the parking lot when he put a CD into the radio.

Sonic scowled, and looked at Knuckles. "…Fall out boy?" He asked quizzically.

"What's wrong with them? They're a good band, how can you NOT like them?" Knuckles exclaimed. Sonic smirked and put his arms behind his head.

"Meh. They're okay." He said. "Hey Tails, you've been really quiet, something wrong?" He looked back at Tails, who had been staring into space.

"No, just thinking, that's all." Tails said, forcing a smile on his face.

Sonic paused. "Alright then." He went back to lying in the reclined seat. What Tails didn't mention is that he was thinking about the recent events, and how they are most likely all connected.

"So what was it that happened with Elise? She hurt herself?" Knuckles asked Sonic.

"I'm gonna ask her when I go visit her in a few days. I'm guessing she was attacked by someone." He clenched his fist when he thought of the pink cat and the green hedgehog, knowing they could be responsible for it. He decided that that wasn't for Knuckles to know just yet.

"So whoever did it is still out there? Makes me kinda worried."

"Yeah, whoever did it is going to pay big, though. You can count on that." Sonic replied darkly.

There was a silence for a chunk of the time of the drive, until Knuckles began to sing along with the music, and he wasn't good at it either.

"_They say she's no good with words but I'm worse."_

"Hey, right as I was starting to like this band." Sonic chuckled. "Then you had to go and sing along, you tone-deaf Echidna."

"Then why don't YOU do better, you lousy hedgehog?" Knuckles retorted.

Sonic replied with only a 'Hmph' seeing as there was no way he could sing along with the songs he didn't know. "So how's things been over at Angel Island?" Sonic said, trying to get a stable conversation going.

"Nothing's really happened much, with the exception of that storm that blew through and damaged the shrine a good deal." Knuckles then pulled out a hand-held screen that displayed the master emerald. He used it when he was away from Angel Island, so that he wouldn't get too paranoid about not being close to it.

"And how are you and Julie-su doing?"

"We broke up actually."

Sonic opened one eye. "Oh really?"

"Yeah; things didn't go according to plan." Knuckles said somberly.

"You mean she broke up with you because you love that enormous gem more than her." Sonic said sarcastically.

"Shutup! That wasn't the reason, you know that. And cut the sarcasm." Knuckles spat back.

"Sure." Sonic said with even more sarcasm. Tails was giggling in the back at the two having their usual arguments between them. He couldn't understand why they can never seem to agree on something.

Knuckles began to turn onto West Street, but Sonic corrected him.

"We don't live there anymore."

Knuckles sighed. "I should have known you were fired from another job. Alright, where's your new place?"

"Hey- I wasn't fired, I left. I didn't agree with the way things were run there, let's leave it at that. And we live on Autumn Drive now."

"Damn. That's all the way across town. Why do you always have to move so far away all the time?"

Sonic shrugged. "That's just how it always turns out." Sonic looked once more back at tails, who was deeply entertained playing 'Final Fantasy' on his handheld. He then looked at the side view mirror, seeing a purple Lexus behind them. _I saw them at the hospital; are we being followed?_ Sonic scowled when he thought it. He was going to keep an eye on that car.

"Hey Knux, are we being followed?" Tails asked. The whole purpose of staying silent about it was to keep Tails from panicking, and when Tails noticed it made Sonic let out a small sigh.

"….I noticed it too." Knuckles said, looking in the rear view mirror. "I'm gonna try and lose 'em." He began to take many detours, and avoided the path towards Sonic's house.

"I can't see who it is; they've got their windows tinted pitch-black!" Tails exclaimed as Knuckles took more turns and swerves while slowly speeding up. Then the trio all let out a sigh of relief when they saw a familiar face, peek out the open window.

Shadow, to Sonic's astonishment, was wearing a smile on his face. Knuckles began to pull over into a nearby parking lot of a shopping mall. Knuckles parked, and stepped out of his car to greet Shadow, as did Sonic and Tails.

Sonic was very excited to see Shadow. The last time they spoke was 3 years ago. Time had changed his appearance; he now wore a black leather coat that went down to his knees, and he had a gold chained amulet – more likely a locket – around his neck.

"Shadow! Long time no see!" Sonic shouted, opening his arms as if to give a friendly hug.

"Hey." Was all shadow said, not returning the embrace from Sonic.

"How've things been? Last I heard you were living back in Rail Canyon." Knuckles said.

"Yeah, I thought maybe I should disappear for a while and let my bad reputation in Station Square die down." All four of them remembered the scenes of Shadow shooting countless G.U.N. soldiers when the Black Arms invaded.

"So what brought you here, Shadow?" Tails asked, fidgeting around. He never felt too comfortable near Shadow.

"I decided that maybe it was time I show my face around here. See if anyone still remembers me."

"Ah." Tails looked around, with a lack of things to say. Even after 3 years, he couldn't come up with a single question. "What were you following us for?" He finally said.

"I couldn't miss that big red echidna, or that sapphire hedgehog next to him." Shadow smiled, making Sonic feel like he wasn't talking to Shadow. He _never_ smiles. "So I thought I'd follow you guys and see where you lived." Shadow stuck his hands in his coat pockets.

"Well, that's where were headed! Knuckles was just taking us back from the hospital." Sonic explained.

Shadow looked at Sonic quizzically. "The hospital?"

"Oh! Forgot you don't know. Well, apparently someone attacked Elise, and she was just crawling on my lawn, badly wounded. The doctor says she'll be fine, but I'm still a little worried about her."

"Ouch. I feel sorry for her. She's so innocent." Shadow said. Sonic finally had to ask.

"You act differently Shadow. Did something happen?"

"No, I've just been trying to become a more approachable person. I don't want to be that dark, mysterious hedgehog I was for all my life." Shadow said, averting his gaze to the sun beginning to set on the horizon.

"Tch. Not a bad idea!" Knuckles commented.

"I will _still_ hurt you if you make me mad, though." Shadow replied darkly. Knuckles squirmed a bit from the hostility.

"You want to come back to my place? Knuckles here is already going to spend the night, one more person doesn't bother me."

"I didn't come down here for nothing. Sure, why not?" Shadow stated.

"Alright! Let's get going then." Sonic smiled and hopped in Knuckles car.

((wow that was a long chapter!! Had so much inspiration I thought I'd EXPLODE! Anyways, please please please review!!! You can have a chili dog with sonic if you do.

Sonic: - I don't mind company.

MSF: see?))


	5. Uncomfortable night

Ch. 5

Uncomfortable night

"Wow Sonic, your new place isn't half bad. For someone with fleeting jobs like you, that is." Knuckles said as he looked around, then plopped on the sofa.

"Yeah, you're a bit materialistic. Look at all those game consoles." Shadow pointed to a collection of video games, new game consoles, old game consoles, and a multitude of other electronics Sonic just couldn't say goodbye to.

Tails, without saying anything, dashed downstairs to his workshop.

Sonic looked over at the door to the workshop with a puzzled expression on his face. "I wonder why Tails has been so silent lately."

"Probably just a phase. He's only 11." Knuckles replied. He picked up the remote, and flipped through the 500 channels that Sonic received.

Shadow was at Sonic's CD collection, browsing for bands that he liked (which, being his clone, found quite a few.)

Sonic looked at Knuckles again, then Shadow, then Knuckles once more. "Oh so _I'm _materialistic? I might as well not be here." Sonic teased. Knuckles and Shadow both let out a chuckle in unison.

"When you've got as much stuff as you do, it's hard not to be." Knuckles said. "Oh cool, MXC is on."

"I thought that was canceled." Shadow replied.

"Not according to the cable it isn't!"

Sonic smiled, and sat down next to Knuckles, with his feet crossed and resting on the coffee table. Knuckles placed his arm over the couch behind Sonic's head, causing Sonic to feel a bit uncomfortable, but decided to think nothing of it.

Shadow sat in a recliner off to the side a bit. He decided he'd listen to music later.

-o-

"Wow that had to have hurt!" Knuckles exclaimed as he watched a man get shot in the groin by a volleyball-loaded cannon.

"You can bet that will be on the most painful eliminations of the day!" Sonic laughed. "Aw, that was the last one."

Through a series of injuries and painful poses, the most painful eliminations of the day were chosen, leaving all three flabbergasted by the strange positions the people could end up in and walk away.

"I'm glad they brought that show back" Shadow said as he turned off the TV since there was nothing else on. "It can be pretty funny sometimes."

"Yeah, you've got me caught up in it now!" Sonic replied.

A strange silence fell across the room. He was now at a lack of things to do, even with company. At that moment shadow put a Crush 40 CD into Sonic's Stereo, causing 'live and learn' to flood the house.

"Hey, if were going to rock all night to something might as well be songs about us."

Shadow shrugged.

Sonic nodded in agreement, while Knuckles turned his head in jealousy that Sonic had his own fan-band. Knuckles always seemed to get the short end of the stick.

They heard the door to Tails' workshop open up, and the yellow fox climbing the stairs. When he reached the top however, he simply stared in Sonic's direction, his eyes without pupils.

"All of you are fools. While I place my plans into action one at a time, you all stand here, listening to music and lying on the couch watching TV. Some heroes you are. I'm disappointed." Tails said in a voice that didn't belong to him. When he finished, he sort of jolted his head up, as though he had been sleep walking.

Tails was looking around, seeing the surprised faces of two hedgehogs and one echidna staring at him. "What'd I do?" he innocently asked.

There was a long pause. "Nothing, Tails. You just need to get to bed, that's all." Sonic lied, pointing at the clock. It was Tails bed time anyway.

"…okay then… g'night." He said as he walked into the hallway and into his room.

After they heard Tails door shut, Knuckles broke the silence. "What was that about?"

"Yeah, I'd been meaning to explain about that." Sonic said, poking his index fingers together.

In a few minutes, he went over the events of the recent days, how he ran into a member of the Mortuus clan, how he chased down that pink cat, and how he hired Espio to investigate.

"Wow, all that in 2 days. Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Knuckles said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I just thought for once that maybe I should stop relying on you guys so much, and stop dragging you into things. That maybe I should do this alone, and leave you out of it." Sonic explained.

Knuckles laughed. "You remember our old group, the Sonic Heroes, right? We faced everything together, and even that we broke apart soon after, we still should take things on together. Never think you're alone, Sonic." Knuckles said sincerely.

Sonic was surprised that Knuckles had said this; he was usually more timid to put in his voice on matters.

"…Thanks, Knux." Sonic replied with a smile.

"Count me in, too. I need some stimulation after 3 years of living a passive life." Shadow added. "One question remains, though. What just happened to Tails? Was that something Mesmeros did?"

"I'm guessing. Mesmeros had told us in the plans about his abilities to alter people's minds. If that's true, it's likely he can temporarily control them too." Sonic stated.

Sonic looked up at the clock. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm hitting the sack. I'm exhausted." Sonic yawned.

"Me too." Knuckles paused, looking around the room. "Do I even have a place to sleep?"

Sonic scratched the back of his head nervously. "There's only one other bed than mine and Tails'…"

Knuckles took a minute for it to sink in, but when he did his face went pure red. His eyes turned to Shadow, who was reflecting the same expression.

"So that means…"

"Yup."

"But if I'm gonna have to…" Shadow interjected.

"Yeah." Sonic finished. He, too, was blushing now.

There was a long awkward silence, in which each person was staring around the room, waiting for someone to say something, in which in this case it was Shadow.

"I might as well deal with it if there's no way around it. I'm going to go change." Shadow said as he walked with his clothes bag to the bathroom. (Not in 'that' way you pervert!)

"Uhh… Sonic?" Knuckles said timidly.

"What?"

"This is gonna sound a bit… awkward, but…" Knuckles paused and diverted his gaze. His face was even redder than before. "Can I- sleep with…. You?" He had to close his eyes and look away. The red echidna was now a red so brilliant it hurt to look at him.

There was an extremely awkward pause. "May I ask why…?" Sonic questioned, giving Knuckles a weird look.

"I uh… I'm kind of afraid of Shadow. I mean, I don't yet trust him… fully." The echidna stuttered.

Sonic rubbed his head. It would be really awkward if he let him, especially when Shadow was around. But he knew where Knuckles was coming from. He didn't truly trust Shadow either.

"Um… uh…" Sonic was making up his mind. "…Sure…?" Sonic blushed along with Knuckles.

"Yeah, um… thanks." Knuckles sputtered out.

Shadow walked into the room in his black pajamas with flames along the sides of the material.

"Hey I'm out of- Did I miss something?" Shadow asked when he saw Sonic and Knuckles both redder than apples.

"No, nothing." Sonic forced a smile on his face. "There's a change of plans; Knux is sleeping in my room instead."

"Sooooo… he's sleeping… _With_ you?" Shadow pondered.

"Don't get the wrong idea." Knuckles interjected. Sonic nodded in agreement. One last awkward silence.

"Alright then, where am I sleeping?" Shadow said.

"Right here." Sonic unfolded the couch, revealing a twin sized bed complete with sheets and blankets.

_I'm glad Knuckles is sleeping in the other room; there's no way I'd sleep that close to him._ Shadow thought.

"Ok, g'night." Sonic said to Shadow as he turned out the lights, and headed into his room with Knuckles.

Sonic closed the door behind them. Knuckles was looking around the room he hadn't seen until now. The bed was enormous; he didn't understand why Sonic needed such a large bed if it was only him. Oh well. More room for him.

"Alright, I'll be on the left side, you sleep on the right. There's plenty of space." Sonic explained.

"Obviously."

Sonic slipped under the bed sheets, fidgeting till he was comfortable. "Night, Knux."

"Night." Knuckles replied. Both closed their eyes, and soon fell into slumber.

-o-

Sonic groaned, looking at the clock. _2:30... _He thought. He had been awoken by moans of pleasure coming from the right side of his bed. _Oh god… I didn't know he would have wet dreams._ Sonic tried his best to ignore it.

Shadow, who had been awoken by the vocalizations, was wide awake. Not being in the room Knuckles was in, he had pictured a disturbing scene completely different. He simply couldn't fall asleep with the images in his head, egged on by the moaning coming from the other room. _Dear god, no wonder they wanted to sleep together._

Sonic couldn't take it anymore. He turned over and slapped Knuckles across the face, causing him to jolt as he woke up. "Wha the hell…?" He said drowsily.

"Please, have your wet dreams at home. You're gonna wake Shadow who might get the wrong idea." Sonic grumbled.

"Um… Sorry…" Knuckles replied. He then closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.

Shadow was still as alert as ever, and even in the dark his pupils were smaller than a pinhead. He predicted he might not get back to sleep because of that._ That's just sick…_

Sonic turned back around, into his comfortable position. Even though he feared Shadow might have heard Knuckles imaginary orgasm, he smiled, and looked back at the scarlet echidna. _He's in MY bed… wait, am- am I saying I- I… LIKE Knuckles!? No! I'm NOT a homosexual. I have a girlfriend, and I intend to keep it that way. And Mom wants grandchildren._ Sonic thought to himself. His smile still persisted through his denial.

((Aww! Sonic-kun is thinking about Knuckles in 'that' way! Romance? Or disaster? Find out later! Also, please comment, and read Lady of the Squirrels "The best birthday present ever" good Sonuckles (toward the end!) and she is an amazing writer. Again, please comment!

Sonic: I am NOT gay!

MSF: you are in MY book, Takeshi!

Sonic: gasp you do NOT use my real name in public! Blushes

MSF: - (yes that really is his name! Takeshi Maurice Hedgehog!)))


	6. Smiling Through Pain

Ch 6

Smiling Through Pain

Sonic awoke the next morning at 9:30. He was alone, and smelled something cooking in his kitchen. He got up and headed into the living room, in which he saw Knuckles on the recliner reading the newspaper.

"Morning." He said without looking up. Shadow was in the kitchen making breakfast, but didn't say a word, only stared with an awkward glare.

Sonic mumbled something inaudible, and plopped onto the sofa.

"Food's ready." Shadow called.

Both got up and sat down at the table. Eggs. The last thing Sonic wanted at the moment. Shadow saw the disappointed look on Sonic's face.

"It was the only thing you had in the refrigerator." Shadow replied.

"Yeah I haven't gone to get groceries in a while."

Knuckles hastily began eating, managing to slop yolk onto the table in the process. Sonic gave him a sarcastic 'thanks' look, and he immediately slowed down.

"…Do you guys smell something burning?" Shadow asked with a scowl on his face.

Sonic sniffed the air. "Yeah I smell it." Sonic ran through the house to see if anything was being incinerated. "Nope, nothing." He replied from another room.

Knuckles peeked out the window, and gasped. "I think you should come see this." He replied in awe.

Sonic and Shadow both looked through the window with Knuckles.

The entire city was ablaze, smoke billowing miles overhead. Atop the highest point, a figure could be seen launching fireballs down into the streets and onto buildings.

Sonic rushed back into his room and grabbed his katana. He ran over to Tails, who was still asleep in his bed.

"Tails, we've got to go. The city's on fire!"

"Wha...?" Tails replied with confusion.

"Never mind, just get up and launch the Tornado!" Sonic yelled as he rushed back to Shadow and Knuckles.

The other two were standing in the living room, waiting for Sonic. Knuckles was holding his halberd, and shadow had two swords strapped to his back.

"Are we ready? Whoever did this isn't stopping by the looks of it." Knuckles said.

"Yeah, Tails should be launching the Tornado soon. Let's head out!" Sonic sped out the door, with Knuckles and Shadow following. Outside, they were greeted by a blasting wave of heat, seeing as the neighbors houses were also on fire. One of the skyscrapers was threatening to collapse now, half of its support burned to ashes. The trio made their way through the complex of burning homes and stores, slowly advancing on the figure atop the apex of town.

"Whoa! Careful!" Sonic yelled to his companions as a building toppled over, weakened from the heat. The figure was clearer now, eve with the heat bending the light in the air. It was the pink cat from before; she was standing with her arms out and looking up, almost like she was stuck in a trance.

"It's that one girl from earlier this week!" Knuckles Exclaimed.

"Yeah I see her too!" Sonic said.

Shadow was confused. "You too know this person?" He asked.

"Yeah. She paid us a few unfriendly visits in the past." Sonic Explained to Shadow.

"Uh oh. Look out!" Shadow pointed up to the masked feline, who was now hurling fireballs down at the trio. Sonic jumped to the left, Shadow to the right, and Knuckles barely avoided the mass of flames by jumping backwards. Overhead, the Tornado flew over the city, launching two missiles at the building the cat was standing on. Gracefully, she dived off the building, making sure to land on one slightly smaller. She then continued to scale down the buildings like a staircase, making her way to the streets.

"She's fast! Everyone get ready, here she comes!" Knuckles warned.

In the blink of an eye, she was clashing blades with Sonic, both placed into a deadlock.

"You idiot. You're challenging someone who's had far more experience than you'll have in your life!" She taunted, slightly growling.

"You're getting a little overconfident, I'd think! You don't seem to know who I am, do you?" Sonic replied, breaking the deadlock and releasing a flurry of thrusts at her. Without missing a beat, she parried every last one. Jumping a ways back, she hurled a large fireball at Sonic, who was able to move just in time before it impacted the ground, leaving a good sized scorch mark on the ground.

"I'm not just gonna stand around!" Shadow yelled to no one in particular. "Chaos Control!" Shadow warped behind the caster, kicking her in the back of the head. She flinched in surprise, and Shadow reached to draw his swords to land a finishing blow. However, she was fast enough to disarm him before he could swing his weapons.

"Is this what you call a challenge? This is like training." She said. She dove at Sonic, sword stretched out in front of her ready to impale the blue hedgehog. Sonic was able to parry and knick her sword sideways, causing her to start to fly past him.

"I want to see your face before I finish you!" Sonic yelled. As she hit the ground, Sonic dashed over and pinned her down. He reached out his hand and grasped hold of the theatrical mask, and pulled it off, tossing it aside.

Sure enough, the face of Blaze the cat was staring directly back at him.

"But… Blaze? I thought you returned to your world…" Sonic said, staring in disbelief

"Does it look that way know?" She retorted.

"But why? Why are you serving under Mesmeros? I thought you would never turn against us, not after what we taught you about friendship!" Sonic asked.

"It's not like I had a choice in the matter…" Blaze diverted her gaze, unable to stare at the sorrowful eyes of the hedgehog any longer. "Mesmeros forced me back into this dimension. His power has reached far beyond that of the chaos emeralds, or even the Sol emeralds at that." Blaze paused, and glared back at Sonic with a devilish intent in her eyes. "That also means I can't help but fight you to the death!" As the words left her mouth, she bellowed a torrent of flames that missed Sonic's face due to the wind, but landed on his arm instead.

Sonic screamed in pain as the peach fur on his arm was blackened, the skin beneath burnt, Blaze jumped away from her former position.

"You won't get away with that!" Knuckles said as he charged in holding his halberd like a lance. Blaze dived at her sword, which was laying about 7 feet away from her. In a fluidic motion, she blocked Knuckles' attack, and saw Shadow approaching from behind, having recovered his swords. As he approached, Blaze, still deadlocked with Knuckles, kicked one sword out of Shadow's hand, catching it and using it to block Shadow.

"Forget what I said before; training is harder than this." Blaze jeered. She broke both deadlocks, spinning around to cause both Shadow and Knuckles to jump backwards.

Sonic was writhing in pain at the burns on his arm, unaware of what was going on. Forcing himself to endure the pulsing stinging in his upper arm, he took hold of his sword once more, and charged back into combat with Blaze.

In a fluidic and graceful manner, Blaze was easily holding her own against the three fighters. Each time one would think they had her by surprise, she would turn the tables in the blink of an eye.

"I thought that Mesmeros would finally have someone to play with. Obviously I was wrong. I will end this frolic right now!" Blaze leapt in the air, and somehow held herself in suspension about ten feet in the air. Her body began to glow a fiery orange, and the air around her was quickly rising in temperature.

Shadow and Knuckles were staring in dread of what might happen. However, Sonic saw this as an opportunity. He jumped to a nearby wall, pushing himself off of it and flying at high speeds toward Blaze. Although he felt terrible about having to kill a friend, he knew it must be done.

Blaze was too late to turn around to see the blue streak bolting towards her. In an instant she was knocked out of the air, and soon landed on the street, Sonic's katana impaled through her chest. Blaze cursed as blood trickled down her figure and onto the street.

"Blaze… I-I'm so sorry…" Sonic trailed off, his eyes beginning to well up with tears. He was never too close a friend to Blaze, but a friend none the less, and losing a friendship was something Sonic could not bear to see.

"Don't be… You did what you had to. And maybe… my death won't be in vain, so long as you keep believing in yourself. Thank you, Sonic. Now I might be able to… rest…" Blaze trailed off, her eyes slowly shutting.

"I'm sorry it had to end here… in our world, and not yours. We…" Sonic paused, tears beginning to spill over his face. "We won't forget you…" He finished.

Blaze had also begun crying at this point, eyes still shut. She was still smiling through the sadness. "Please tell Cream that she was always a good friend to me…" She said. Sonic tenderly laid her body on the ground, not removing the blade in her chest, trying not to cause her any more pain.

Sonic wiped the tears from his face. "I will." He said solemnly. Blaze, through her pain and anguish, died with a wide, peaceful smile spread across her face.

((-Sniff- I can't believe I just killed blaze! That was so emotional! Also, review, it makes Sonic happier when you review.

Cream: -big huge sobs of sadness-

MSF: Don't worry Cream… it'll all be better soon."))


End file.
